Interactive television technologies generally enable adding Internet-based functionality, content and/or services as an overlay to the television signals provided by cable and satellite television providers. For example, one of the aims of interactive television technologies is to deliver Internet-accessible functionality, content and/or services to an individual consumer that are matched to a particular television program the consumer is currently watching. To that end, interactive television technologies often need to determine what a consumer is watching in order to deliver matched functionality, content and/or services.
According to previously developed systems and methods, a second device, such as a supplemental set-top box, is configured to work with the primary set-top box provided by a cable or satellite television provider. In order to determine what a consumer is watching, the supplemental set-top box sends a query to the primary set-top box requesting information about the currently playing television program selected by the consumer (e.g. the title, names of actors or characters, electronic program guide information, etc.). In order to send such a query or otherwise communicate with the primary set-top box, the supplemental set-top box usually includes one or more provider-specific application program interfaces (APIs) that enable the supplemental set-top box to be paired with a wide variety of primary set-top boxes from various cable and satellite television providers. The development of each API requires the input and cooperation of a respective cable or satellite television provider that provides a primary set-top box to consumers. Developing the APIs with various providers tends to be inefficient, and hinders scaling such technologies across a wide variety of provider-specific platforms.